[center] [img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/180513/5ef5b8f32a843a2a76c1b0aa903ab393.png[/img] [b]&[/b] [img]https://i.imgur.com/z6cC6JC.png[/img] [b]&[/b] [h2]Sylvia Starshine[/h2] [sub]First Step[/sub] [/center] It was early. The sun had only just risen over the horizon and most people were still asleep. Penny was wide awake though. Her lowered need for sleep was normally seen as a blessing, but for today it had given her several hours of silent contemplation of all the various ways that what she was about to do could go horribly, horribly wrong. That hadn’t swayed her from her choice, running away from a problem never solved it, and tended to hurt the ones you ran from. So here she stood, on the Back porch of Alicia’s house, watching the sunrise waiting for Alicia to wake up. With a yawn, Alicia awoke from her slumber. Her rest had been well enough, especially when one considered the night that had led into it. There were no nightmares to talk about, and she rose feeling refreshed and ready to face the day. Glancing over, a frown appeared as she noticed that the bed next to hers was not occupied by Penny. Had she chosen to leave early? Had something happened? She trusted that she could take care of herself if there was some sort of difficulty, but that did not stop her from worrying to some degree. At the very least it couldn’t hurt to check, she resolved, and with her mind made up she rose from her bed to do a sweep of the house. It was not difficult to locate Penny, standing on the back porch and staring at the rising sun.[color=aba000] “Hey,”[/color] she said aloud, announcing her presence as she walked up to her friend, [color=aba000]“Early morning routine?”[/color] [color=9e0039]“Something like that”[/color] Penny would say as she turned to look at her friend with a half hearted smile [color=9e0039]“I haven't been able to sleep more than four hours a night since I joined the community. So I tend to be a early riser”[/color] She would explain with a shrug. She was mostly sure it didn’t have anything to do with her physiology as she had met some other magicals that also didn’t need as much sleep as normal and by this point it was another thing she had just gotten used too. There was a pause as Penny fidgeted with something in her pocket [color=9e0039]“How about you? Waking up with the sun a personal habit or community focused?”[/color] she would ask as she turned back to watch the changing sky. [color=aba000]“Community focused,”[/color] Alicia assured her. She was still a bit tired, but that would be shaken off soon enough. [color=aba000]“Well, that and when I woke up you weren’t in the room, so I figured I’d check and see if you had left.”[/color] That sleep thing sounded useful, and there were definitely times she wished she could do the same. But compared to everything else she wanted, that was a relatively minor desire. Looking back out to the horizon, Alicia was comfortable in her own home. [color=aba000]“Mom and Dad will be up soon. We can have breakfast then, unless you’re really hungry,”[/color] she offered after a few minutes of silence. [color=9e0039]“I can wait for food”[/color] Penny would reply before taking a breath. [color=9e0039]“There is something I wanted to talk to you about regardless”[/color] she would say as she moved to sit against the house [color=9e0039]“It’s community related”[/color] she would added once again fiddling with something in her pocket [color=9e0039]“And it’s not something I’m proud of, but you deserve to know. And I didn’t want it to get sprung on you out of nowhere, ‘cause it almost did. It was stupid, a terrible idea and…”[/color] Penny forced a breath out through her teeth. She was rambling. The one nervous habit she always had. [color=9e0039]“What I’m trying to say is I messed up, and I know that.”[/color] She said with a sigh of defeat, as she pulled whatever it was she had been fiddling with out of her pocket and held it in her hand as tightly as she could [color=9e0039]“And I’m sorry”[/color] she turned her hand over and slowly opened it. In the center of her hand lay a small piece of inky darkness. It was circular, perfectly smooth as well as flat. It was unmistakable to anyone who was part of the magical world. It was a Black Coin. Penny’s entire body was rigid with tension and her eyes were fixed on the rising sun as she awaited Alicia’s reaction. For a moment Alicia didn’t comprehend what she saw. It was evident when she did, her body stiffening as her eyes widened. The almost desperate thought that this was a dream raced across her mind, a sign of her disbelief made manifest. That couldn’t be,... There was no way… Yet it was, and her stiff body snapped into action as she scrambled backwards, staring at Penny with eyes that made no secret of her disbelief, and the hurt. There was no question of how, or of the time. There was only one thing she wanted to know, and that was: why? The fact that Penny had apologized didn’t matter, not with something this important. As a member of Beacon, she was acutely aware of what having that coin meant. And suddenly, things were making a lot more sense. Just as quickly, the shutters came down in a glare. [color=aba000]“Explanation. Now,”[/color] she said at last, words practically spat out in anger. [color=aba000]“Or I swear to the Spark I will end this alliance right here, without hesitation.”[/color] [color=9e0039]“He Who Brushes Away The Old, can’t be trusted,”[/color] she started softly; Alicia’s reaction hurt, but it was the best she could have hoped for. “And He has already called off the alliance, just didn’t bother telling anyone.”[/color] Penny’s voice was surprisingly even in light of the crime she was admitting too. One could almost trick themselves into thinking Penny was fine were it not for her shaking hands and softly glowing eyes. [color=9e0039]“He...Doesn’t care. About anything other than change. Beacon is something he’s been targeting for a long time, but the Mint is just as much as a target for him.”[/color] She began, closing her hand to hide the coin from sight, but made no move to return it to her pocket. [color=9e0039]“He pointed a Broker in my direction, I don’t know when, but I met them the night of the gas station incident. I was worried, for Thalia,”[/color] her voice cracked as she said her lost friend’s name, and took a moment before pushing on, [color=9e0039]“and the potential fallout of her full transformation. Beacon hadn’t yet openly started to move away from their hard stance and I had fallen for her. It was a mistake, made worse by the fact she ran away once she woke up, but that one’s on me for assuming she trusted me.”[/color] Tears were silently running down Penny’s face as she spoke, but she kept her voice clear and her legs still. She would not run, no matter how much it hurt. [color=9e0039]“I only met the Broker a few times, as she became my handler as well, but it was how I got the metal to build my extra limbs and a couple of other things. Mostly I kept them as far away as I could. Wanted to tell them to go to hell, but hard to do when your Patron says otherwise.”[/color] A useless shrug. The reason felt hollow to Penny, but it was the only one she had to offer. [color=9e0039]“Last time I saw them was just the other morning, I was following a lead, as one of the things I added to my debt was information that could possibly help me find Thalia, or at least find out what happened to her.”[/color] [color=9e0039] “She, the handler, had a falling out with Mint. Don’t know what about, asked but didn’t get an answer. I had always assumed that few people knew about me in their organization, but Elroy made it sound like she told him, so any number of people could know. I decided that if anyone was going to tell you, it was going to be me, because at least this way you can get some closure rather than wondering.”[/color] The entire time she spoke she kept her gaze locked on the horizon. She didn’t want to face the hurt and betrayal that was almost certainly on Alicia’s face, the anger in her voice cut deep enough. [color=9e0039]“Once we're done here I’m planning on telling Sylvia. You deserved to know first though.”[/color] Alicia was silent, her powers tapped as she listened to what Penny had to say. It was a good thing they were here, now. As a worse setting probably would have seen her already with her weapon drawn. All things considered she was being downright accommodating for someone who had just revealed themselves to be a member of the Mint. A different Beacon member probably would have gone straight to fighting, and skipped any attempted explanation. As much as she hated to admit it, things did make some sense. How Penny had been acting recently, what had happened in the graveyard. The fact that Laat had already called off the alliance wasn’t even that much of a surprise. It was just another bad thing to happen to Beacon recently. They were just lucky that this had been revealed before they had been stabbed in the back (again). She was silent, still, focused intently as Penny went about her explanation. She wanted to make sure that there was no lie, that she had not missed something important. She wanted to trust Penny, but after this revelation that she had missed so completely she couldn’t take the chance. At least she knew the ‘when’ now, and the ‘why’. It didn’t make things easier, but it was useful. But she continued to focus on what was really important here. Sylvia would definitely want to know anyway, regardless of how this ended. [color=aba000]“Why now?”[/color] she asked at last. [color=aba000]“Clearly your patron didn’t approve of this, so why the sudden honesty?”[/color] If she just wanted to give an explanation to salve her conscience before they went back to being enemies, then that was fine, but Alicia had the feeling there was more to it than that. [color=9e0039]“Because I’m tired, for one”[/color] Penny would answer after a few moments [color=9e0039]“Tired of Him using me for his deals, tired of lying by omission to you and Janet, tired of waiting for everything to blow up in my face.”[/color] It was the truth she had come to face at the graveyard, before she had stepped away from her humanity [color=9e0039]“I also don’t want my mistakes to condemn other monster girls again. The ones like Kimble, who don’t mean harm. They don’t deserve me tearing down their hope, with my idiocy, not when it’s still new.”[/color] Penny stalled, as she debated for a moment, on whether or not to voice her last reason. It didn’t take long as shaking her head she knew she had too, any deception here no matter how small was to much to risk. [color=9e0039]“I’ve also started crushing on you, rather hard.”[/color] Penny finished softly not wanting to elaborate. She felt sick, and resisted the urge to curl up. It was an ugly truth that most of Penny’s reasons were selfish. She had been forced to find a way to survive on her own ever since she had joined the magical community, but having actually spoken the reasons aloud she couldn’t escape how much she sounded like her parton, and she hated that association so much right now. Once again Alicia fell silent as Penny explained what had brought about her change of attitude. Once again her powers worked, trying to discern if there was some sort of lie, but finding none beneath the reasons were understandable, especially since she knew that Penny had had problems with Laat from their past conversations. The last thing said caused her eyes to widen in surprise yet again, and to stiffen. This was not exactly the best way to learn that someone had a crush on you, and now it just had to make things more complicated. A sigh escaped, her head bowing slightly. They would just have to talk about that later, when they had figured out what was even going to happen to Penny. It was too much to handle right now. [color=aba000]“Okay, I see,”[/color] she replied at last. She couldn’t let her feelings get in the way of her judgment. She just had to continue on. [color=aba000]“What has the Mint had you do for them since you began to work for them?”[/color] [color=9e0039]“Nothing really, I’ve been more of a scout really, sending off Information I’ve found. I tended to stick to pictures of Beckoners and defunct patrol routes, whatever was the least useful,”[/color] Penny answered with a grimace; she was never fully sure that she was feeding bad information or not. Never asked, to keep herself safe. [color=9e0039]“I’ve still got a backup of everything I’ve sent off and can give it to you later.”[/color] Back In the house there would be the sounds of the parents getting up signaling they were running low on time to speak privately. Penny would finally break her gaze away from the horizon to glance at the house before looking to Alicia. Silently asking how she wanted to handle this. There was some consolation in the fact that Penny had not given anyway anything particularly important, aside from perhaps the roster list from Beckoners. But they weren’t exactly a secret organization, so even that was not too big of a deal. [color=aba000]“Do that,”[/color] she agreed with Penny before glancing back into the house. They were almost out of time. [color=aba000]“One last thing: I just need you to tell me that this was not your idea, and you did not want to harm Beacon. Those exact words, no deviation,”[/color] she told Penny. The answer was pretty clear already, but she needed to confirm it with her powers, for the sake of completeness. Once that had been done she sighed, rising to her feet. [color=aba000]“I believe you,”[/color] she told Penny. [color=aba000]“Let’s go back inside, I need to arrange the meeting with Sylvia so we can handle this mess.”[/color] And she would do just that, heading inside and back up to her room. Once she was there she would fire off a text message on her phone. [i]To: Sylvia We need to talk asap. Where/when can you meet?[/i] That done, she returned to join the rest of the family for breakfast as she waited for a response. [hr] Later during the day, Sylvia, Alicia and Penny were at a Chinese restaurant, the former having invited them over after they agreed on meeting up. Sylvia had that day off, with Sally working as her substitute, and she decided they would go eat something spicy. “These spring rolls are delicious,” she commented with a smile, not seemingly having noticed the tension in the air between the latter two. “Especially after a job well done; we didn’t lose any civilians in that mess.” However, after she took another look at the two, her expression turned somber. “...I figured this wasn’t a normal date; nobody asks to meet their boss for casual reasons. I can tell when something has happened. Well, what is it?” She asked with a raised eyebrow, having put her spring roll aside. The Chinese restaurant was nice, and were the purpose of the meeting not so serious Alicia would have liked to have taken more time to enjoy it. As it was, it seemed like only Sylvia was able to enjoy herself when it came to the gravity of this situation. And that probably wouldn’t last. As they at last turned to business, she took a deep breath before her gaze met that of her boss while her hands rested on the wooden lacquered table. [color=aba000]“Right, it is,”[/color] she assured Sylvia. [color=aba000]“As of this morning I’m dissolving the alliance between Beacon and Laat'AlOfan. Penny, tell her what you told me.”[/color] She gave a small nod in the direction of the girl next to her without looking at her. Not just yet anyway. At the full use of Her Patron’s name Penny couldn’t help but flinch. He would be watching now, and she knew it, but it there was nothing she could do about that. Taking a deep breath she would once again reveal the Black Coin she had, and place it on the table. [color=9e0039]“He wasn’t content on having me work with just Beacon.”[/color] She would begin as she watched Sylvia. [color=9e0039]“He contacted the Mint and directed them to me. I don’t know when He spoke to them, but I was approached by a Broker a week before the assault on Justine’s castle. I was an Idiot,”[/color] She would tap the coin for emphasis [color=9e0039]“And since then I have been sending small, hopefully useless, packets of information to them about Beacon to work off the debt that I acquired due to His demands.”[/color] [color=9e0039]“I’ve received little from the Mint, mostly hard to aquire supplies and information. Recently my contact with Mint has had a falling out with them, a few days ago. I don’t know what caused it, or why and I haven’t been contacted by anyone else from the Mint yet.”[/color] She would take a drink from her water before continuing as the next few words had the greatest chance of drawing Laat’s ire [color=9e0039]“I am tired of being used as a pawn in His schemes, and don’t want my stupidity to hurt the chances of other monster girls now that you have started moving away from a hard kill stance.”[/color] The moment she was done speaking she could feel a droning static start to build in her head. He was annoyed at her choice of actions, but nothing more would come of it yet. “...” Contrary to what one might have expected, Sylvia didn’t seem to show any shock or surprise in her expression. In fact, it seemed as if she had expected it, or at the very least, went to great effort to conceal it on her part; whether it was intuition, or years of experience in her job, she immediately understood the gravitas of her confession. She glanced in Alicia’s direction, acknowledging her, before her gaze locked on to Penny. And then, she sighed heavily. “...The God of Change, huh? What were they thinking?” She leaned back on her seat, having crossed her arms, and gave an angry glare at Penny. “Penny, do you understand the situation you are in right now?” She looked down at the Black Coin, and seemed to hold back from gritting her teeth. “Even mere possession of a Black Coin is grounds for elimination.” She averted her eyes. “But, it sounds like your Patron was the deciding factor in your betrayal. Ugh…” She sighed again. “You know, the last time a traitor came to us asking for forgiveness, it turned into a disaster. The news of it leaked instantly, thanks to those damn spies the Penrose Independent had planted in our organization. This won’t be any different. In fact, it will turn worse; Beacon will lose all faith in the reformation, and we will regress back to the old ways.” Her arms slumped down to her sides, and her eyes seemed to stare into space. “...I still remember that day…” She suddenly spoke up. “When I found you in the Overcity. You were a real pain in the butt to put back together, what with all your pieces lodged in the ice and whatnot. But there...I touched your heart.” She slowly placed one hand on the table. “And what I felt...It was unlike any monster girl’s, and not because it was metallic; I felt a bright light in there, full of hope.” She lifted the hand to her own chest. “I still believe in that Penny, the one who fought to protect others, who risked her life for it. And for that reason...” She stood up from her seat. “I won’t order you eliminated. Nor will I hold a trial.” She placed both hands on the table. “However, In return, I will ask for one thing, and one thing only…” She took a deep breath. “Forfeit your Patron...And join Beacon as a full member.” Penny did not hide her surprise at Sylvia’s words, she had come here expecting much, much worse. Yet she could not help the brittle smile that formed on her face. She placed her hand over the Black Coin so there would be no chance of losing it. [color=9e0039]“I would have abandoned him and joined Beacon along time ago if I could”[/color] She declared sadly. A moment later she would let out a hiss of pain as the droning static became piercing nails across her mind. [color=9e0039]“All who serve him directly are bound to him”[/color] she would continue through grit teeth [color=9e0039]“And he guards the secrets of freedom jealousy, willingly sabotages us as well so that we can’t break free of his grasp.”[/color] As she continued to speak, things would start to break all around them. Glasses would crack and plates would split. Even the table between them would groan as it started to warp. Meanwhile Penny could feel the Monster within her trying to stir. Her body started to itch and her skin would feel too tight. Her emotions would start to dull, some on the verge of shutting down. All the while the sharp static pain would start to throb as if someone was hammering the nails in deeper. [color=9e0039]“If…”[/color] Words hurt to form and the desire for freedom was slowly fading [color=9e0039]“...You can help me…”[/color] She was looking at Alicia now, Penny couldn’t remember turning to look at her [color=9e0039]“...I’m yours.”[/color] Sylvia’s gaze turned more stern as Penny struggled with the destructive influence Laat had on her, and bit the corner of her lip as she saw how as she attempted to resist the urge, her presence alone was enough to dismantle the dishes. She wrapped her hand around the one holding the Black Coin, holding it firmly as she looked her deep in the eye with compassionate eyes. “I know a way. It will be risky, and there is a chance you might die...But you can be freed from your curse.” Silently listening to the conversation, things were going much better than Alicia had feared that they might. She hadn’t even needed to try and persuade Sylvia, with both of them knowing the challenges that this represented. It was a whole different business from what had happened with Janet, because the Mint was a whole different beast. And too rapid change would destroy everything. But it seemed they were going forwards with this, and she was pleased to find Penny fully willing to join them. Not that she was particularly surprised by that either, but for some time it had felt like nothing was truly certain any more. Not that Laat approved, if the rising commotion in the diner was any indication of his feelings. Meeting Penny’s pained eyes, Alicia smiled warmly as she took her friend’s other hand, mind already catching on to what Sylvia had in mind. If she thought that it could work, then who was she to doubt the plan? [color=aba000]“Well, it’s not like you have any better options,”[/color] she noted aloud, giving her hand a soft squeeze.[color=aba000] “I’ll be with you the whole time.”[/color] Penny held the warm gaze coming from Alicia. Willing herself to get lost in the other girls' eyes, stoking what little emotion she could to stave the other side of her existence off. She would nod slowly as determination would crystalize within her. She would turn to Sylvia. [color=9e0039]“I’ll…”[/color] the world would nearly dissolve in to static as pain blindsided her. For a moment her world narrowed down to pain and a nearly overwhelming desire to rampage, her cursed mind being kicked into overdrive by a vindictive God, but the contact with Alicia and Sylvia helped in grounding her. Allowing her to focus on the savage, human, glee she felt at truly pissing off Laat. [color=9e0039][u][b]“Do... It”[/b][/u][/color] it was hard to say if it was a continuation or a demand as her voice crackled with static and the rate of of wanton destruction would increase. It was easy to see her disguise was barely being held together. Her eyes were glowing ominously and most of the color had drained away from her skin and hair. Additionally her gaze would flicker back and forth between a vacant stare and a baleful glare. Penny had otherwise fallen unresponsive, though oddly compliant. She would follow if one of them pulled her along and would generally stay where she was if left alone. She was placing her life in their hands. Hoping that her trust would be rewarded.